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Guest EnronEx

Guest EnronEx

It is quite amazing that we have another Ponzi scheme where the taxpayers are the investors that get nothing in return.

Buried in Walker's bill to strip public employees of their rights is a provision that would allow the state to sell or contract out management of state-owned power plants without the standard competitive bidding that saves taxpayers money and protects against political corruption.

16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 ( 3 ) ( b ).

And who might benefit from this special interest legislation?

Flint Hills Resources, LLC, through its subsidiaries, is a leading refining and chemicals company. Its subsidiaries market products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, ethanol, olefins, polymers and intermediate chemicals, as well as base oils and asphalt. A subsidiary distributes refined fuel through its strategically located pipelines and terminals in Junction City, Waupun, Madison and Milwaukee. Another subsidiary manufactures asphalt that is distributed to terminals in Green Bay and Stevens Point.

Koch Pipeline Company, L.P. operates a pipeline system that crosses Wisconsin, part of the nearly 4,000 miles of pipelines owned or operated by the company.

The C. Reiss Coal Company is a leading supplier of coal used to generate power. The company has locations in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan.

All three of these Wisconsin based companies are the largest –or among the largest – in their fields. And they all have one thing in common.

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Guest Fedup

Guest Fedup

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Guest Pabst bub

Guest Pabst bub

Unions agreed to pay 50% of their medical and 13% of the pension like the WI governor wanted yet he won't budge on collective bargaining. I think there is definitely something fishy going on. All I hear these days Koch Brothers, Koch Brothers, Koch Brothers.

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Guest American4Progress

Guest American4Progress

At a town hall meeting yesterday, Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) exclaimed "I love collective bargaining" and insisted that the Garden State is very different from Wisconsin or Ohio. While Christie's relationship with state unions "has in the past been icy," he now wants to work with them now, adding "get me out of the cage" and "let me at them."

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Guest HushesDotCom

Guest HushesDotCom

Protesters who marched at the home of Wisconsin state senator Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac) were met with something of a surprise on Saturday. Mrs. Hopper appeared at the door and informed them that Sen. Hopper was no longer in residence at this address, but now lives in Madison, WI with his 25-year-old mistress.

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Guest Shackelford

Guest Shackelford

Save the tabloids for the grocery stores. Our society has progressed to a place where the benefits that the unions once had to fight for are now the law. Children can't be hired to work in sweatshops and women can't be fired for being pregnant. Those are important. The issue today is that unions are not fighting for those things, as they've been achieved. Unions today are fighting for wage increases and pensions that are not sustainable. We simply can not afford these things anymore. Most workers (more than 80%) are not in unions and are doing just fine.

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Guest Chris, Windham

Guest Chris, Windham

Ronald Reagan must be looking down from heaven with sadness and disgust at what the republicans have done to desmantle labor unions. Reagan was a supporter of labor and ironically was the president of the screen actors guild for many years......One of our greatest presidents and leaders of the republican party was a union president!

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Guest BlingBling

Guest BlingBling

Where Free Unions and Collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost. They remind us that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. You and I must protect and preserve freedom here or it will not be passed on to our children and it would disappear everywhere in the world. - President Ronald Reagan

Collective bargaining in the years since has played a major role in America’s economic miracle. Unions represent some of the freest institutions in this land. There are few finer examples of participatory democracy to be found anywhere. Too often, discussion about the labor movement concentrates on disputes, corruption, and strikes. But while these things are headlines, there are thousands of good agreements reached and put into practice every year without a hitch. - President Ronald Reagan

Today's faux Republicans want people to forget their great icon's quotes. They have lost their way through temptation and greed.